Bellingham land acquisitions add key parks, trail connections
Bellingham is expanding its open space by a little more than 1.5 acres and making key trail connections in the southern part of the city through a purchase agreement and a donation.
One site is in Chuckanut Village and the other is in the South neighborhood, just east of the Interurban Trail near Hoag’s Pond.
▪ Susan Braman, who owns a 5,000-square-foot site, is donating her home and land when she dies on the condition that the site remains undeveloped.
Braman’s home is in the South neighborhood, near Hoag’s Pond and the Interurban Trail, a hiking and biking path that links several Bellingham parks and neighborhoods to Larrabee State Park and open space along Chuckanut Drive, according to a memo to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board from Laine Potter, design and development manager for the Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department.
“Acceptance of this donation will expand contiguous open space and habitat, and facilitate future trail connectivity,” Potter told the board.
A future trail connection is planned from Old Fairhaven Parkway south to Hoag’s Pond, via 28th Street and Cody Circle, the memo said.
“The parcel lies within a key forested wildlife corridor between the large, forested lands of Chuckanut Mountain to the south and the Padden Creek corridor to the north,” Potter said.
According to the agreement, which was approved unanimously, the deed will transfer to the city on Braman’s death.
▪ In an agreement announced Monday night, the city will buy a 1.5-acre site in Chuckanut Village for $550,000, using Greenways levy funds.
Its location on the south side of Chuckanut Creek near the city’s Chuckanut Bay Open Space will allow future trail connections to Woodstock Farm, the North Chuckanut Trailhead, and Arroyo Park, Potter told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
“This purchase will expand contiguous open space and protect the high-functioning stream corridor and associated wildlife habitat and water-quality functions,” Potter said.
There’s a small home at the site that the city plans to demolish, she said.
Both acquisitions were discussed at the City Council meeting and in committee on Monday, Dec. 12.
